Open AccessAligned: Sex Workers’ Lessons for the Gig Economy
Author(s) -
Yvette Butler
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
michigan journal of race and law
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2688-5492
pISSN - 1095-2721
DOI - 10.36643/mjrl.26.2.aligned
Subject(s) - gig economy , shadow (psychology) , legitimacy , sex work , power (physics) , work (physics) , face (sociological concept) , sex workers , independence (probability theory) , labour law , business , political science , labour economics , public relations , sociology , law , economics , psychology , politics , engineering , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , social science , population , mathematics , family medicine , psychotherapist , research methodology , quantum mechanics , medicine , mechanical engineering , statistics , physics , demography
Society’s perception of a type of work and the people who engage in money-generating activities has an impact on whether and how the law protects (or does not protect) the people who perform those activities. Work can be legitimized or delegitimized. Workers are protected or left out to dry depending upon their particular “hustle.” This Article argues that gig workers and sex workers face similar challenges within the legal system and that these groups can and should collaborate to their collective advantage when seeking reforms. Gig workers have been gaining legitimacy while sex workers still primarily operate in the shadow economy. This Article digs into the sometimes-conflicting desires of individuals working as sex workers and gig workers to inform how gig workers can achieve the power and economic independence necessary to prevent workplace exploitation.